Get to Know Robin Pulver

Robin Pulver

Born the day World War II ended, this resident of Pittsford, NY has traveled the world and returned to her home state where she bird-watches, hikes, swims, and writes. Meet Robin Pulver, picture book author extraordinaire, who is here to answer some burning questions about her career.

Q. Thanks for being here, Robin! What three things would you like readers to know about you and your writing process?

l. That although I love writing, I’m neither a fast writer nor a confident one.

2. That my early drafts are pretty bad.

3. That I revise a lot to shorten, polish, and enliven my manuscripts. I think of revision as finding the form inside a glob of clay. Revision is exhilarating. It’s releasing the story from its messy beginnings.

Q. What advice do you have for kids and teens who want to write professionally?

Read. Imagine. Notice. Listen. Play (you’re never too old!). Soak up new experiences – you need stuff to write about! Make mistakes. Write, write, write because you love to write, not to make money, and for a long time not even to get published. Get fresh air and exercise to keep blood flowing to your brain.

Q. What advice do you have for their parents?

Encourage play and imaginative thinking. Don’t belittle daydreaming or a child’s sensitivity. Discourage a need for perfection. Reading is key to good writing. Provide a variety of reading material and read together as a family, but don’t be too “educational and serious” about it. Have fun. Let the kids choose and read what they want to read. Write in front of your kids. (You could also encourage them to write thank you notes! Ahem, see my book Thank You, Miss Doover.)

It’s a glorious event! (You didn’t ask, but what I love is the chance to meet and be inspired by enthusiastic kids, parents, teachers, and librarians.) Families can chat with published authors and illustrators and realize that we are normal, hard-working, friendly people. Parents witness and share the excitement their children have for books and reading. Take part in book-related crafts and presentations for all ages. Use this opportunity to buy autographed books for gifts. I know that the fact my aunt gave me a new book every year for Christmas and my birthday put me on the path to becoming a writer.

Q. As a picture book author, do you ever wish you were also an illustrator so you could provide both the text and images for your work? Or do you enjoy collaborating with artists?

I’ve always loved art and bought art for my walls before I acquired furniture. Growing up, I had never met an author, so I never thought of being one. I wanted to be an art teacher. But I loved writing most. Now, as an author of picture books, I find it humbling and thrilling to have professional artists illustrate my words. Often we never meet. My job is to provide a story with plenty of possibilities and room for illustration, then let an artist (chosen by the editor and art director) bring his or her vision to the work. I love being surprised by what they do. My books look very different from each other because their artists have different styles. (And I have bought some of their original illustrations for my walls!)

Q. You have published nearly 25 picture books. Do you have plans for writing any chapter books or novels? Why or why not?

I’ve written three unpublished chapter book manuscripts. Maybe I’ll try again, but I adore picture books for their carefully chosen (often colorful or dramatic) words and because they are meant to be read aloud and shared. A challenge in writing a picture book is to create a story that an 88-year-old will enjoy as much as an eight-year-old. Picture books bring people of all ages together.

Q. What do you do for fun when you aren’t reading or writing? What are some of your favorite things to do in Rochester?

Watch movies at the Cinema or the Little Theater. Attend plays at GEVA and the JCC. Walk my dogs, Sadie and Poppy, on the canal. Cross-country ski at Mendon Ponds. Attend Bodhi Tree yoga. Get together with author and illustrator friends.

Q. Your grammar centric picture books are continuously popular at my library (Punctuation Takes a Vacation is a favorite). Are there more of these stories in your future?

Coming out soon is Eager Leaders: A Story about Prefixes. It combines learning about prefixes with Leadership Day at school and the qualities of good leaders. President Lincoln makes an appearance. I hope it’s an entertaining story, and even funny.

Q. What are you working on next?

My following release will be Persuading Miss Doover, a wacky sequel to Thank You, Miss Doover. I’d also like to write a story about my irrepressible labradoodle. Maybe revise a chapter book set in the Galapagos and turn it into a picture book manuscript. Lynn Rowe Reed, the illustrator for my language arts books, is encouraging me to write a sequel to Punctuation Takes a Vacation.

Q. What were your favorite book(s) as a child? How about your favorite recent read(s)?

Before I could read myself, my parents read novels by Thornton Burgess aloud to me. They were about nature and wildlife. Those well-worn books had belonged to them as children, and I’m sure the stories instilled in me a lifelong love of nature and empathy for other living creatures. Then I came to read Ferdinand, Millions of Cats, Pippi Longstocking, The Borrowers, Nancy Drew, Anne of Green Gables, and of course, Charlotte’s Web. Some favorite recent reads are H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald, She’s Not There by Jennifer Finney Boylan, The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion, and finally, Not Even Wrong: Adventures in Autism by Paul Collins.

Robin apologizes that her website is under construction, but would love for you to visit her on FaceBook at www.facebook.com/robin.pulver and at the Rochester Children’s Book Festival on November 7th at Monroe Community College.

Deena Viviani is a Rochester-based Young Adult Services Librarian. Read her book reviews at www.deenaml.livejournal.com or send her a note at DeenaViviani@hotmail.com – she loves to hear from readers!